As an Alger volunteer firefighter, Rich DeRuiter sees a lot of trauma, but it’s usually caused by car accidents and fires — random acts that are brutal and painful, but easier to explain.
What he saw Sept. 2 in Alger shook him in a different way. He’s still trying to find words to describe it.
“I have been exposed to violence before, but not intentional violence,” said DeRuiter, who is also pastor of the Alger Community Christian Reformed Church. “There’s different feelings that accompany it. It’s just different.”
The trauma of Sept. 2 — when six people were killed and four were injured — was felt by the whole community. But emergency responders are forced to set aside their grief and continue their work. For many, the horrible realization of what they experienced would wash over them in days to come.
“We grieve too, and it’s OK, the community understands that. We know we have a tough job,” said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary. “You think about those things, and at the same time you have a job to do.”
* Read the full story in today’s Skagit Valley Herald.
‘We grieve too’
Frank Varga
Rich DeRuiter, pastor of Alger Community Church and a volunteer firefighter, was one of the first responders to victims of a Sept. 2 spree of violence through the Alger community and down Interstate 5. He says first responders experience their own kind of trauma when dealing with the aftermath of tragedy and violence.
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